She made these observations while attending the 7th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), via video conferencing.
Sitharaman appreciated the AIIB for its continued commitment and dedication to assist members and for providing high-quality development finance.
While advocating the need to enhance climate finance, the Finance Minister highlighted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is actively leading India’s climate change response efforts through various programmes such as ‘Lifestyle for Environment’ among many others.
Sitharaman urged the bank’s management to further intensify private sector capital mobilisation and explore mechanisms to augment its lending headroom.
While suggesting the AIIB set-up full-fledged country offices, she also advised the bank to work towards expanding the scope of its mid-stream and upstream engagement activities, such as increased technical assistance to help clients translate strategies into investment plans.
